Shine A Light 2009-2014

Over the past five years I have worked with the Education Department of the Portland Art Museum on an ongoing series of programs and events related to Shine a Light. Shine a Light is a collaboration that we developed with the Education Department and the Education Committee of the Portland Art Museum in 2009 that connects socially engaged art to museum publics to create a space in which to rethink what could happen in a museum. Centered around an annual one night event that hosts over twenty artists creating site-specific work for the museum, I have worked with the museum to create ways for the spirit of Shine a Light to be an ongoing presence in the museum through a residency program, a class that was offered jointly through the museum and PSU, and ongoing artist projects that happen throughout the year.

Shine a Light is an event that succeeds in working with new publics and developing new audiences. The one night event draws between 2,000–3,000 visitors to the museum each year.

Mind Training, 2013

Weekly on Fridays during the PSU Resource Room Residency Jen Delos Reyes and Jason Sturgill will host a group reading and research session inspired by Lojong mind training practice. All are welcome to use the space and conduct their own work and research. Those who make the space for this mind training practice in their lives weekly will receive a limited edition poster each week that features a different Lojong mind training slogan.

You Belong to the Universe, 2012

Jen Delos Reyes and Caitlin Moore

Gingerbread geodesic dome,Gingerbread, sugar glass

When one hears the name Buckminster Fuller perhaps the image that comes to mind is the geodesic dome. This efficient and economical structure embodies his utopian visions and values, as well as his approach to design and sustainability. Over the course of his lifetime Fuller made countless contributions and innovations in the worlds of architecture, design, philosophy, mathematics, and urban planning.

Buckminster Fuller embarked on a lifelong “experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity.” He truly believed that each one of us could make the difference. Our lives, and our experiences are our gifts to each other and universe. His life and work serve as an important reminder to in his own words, “Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.”

Infinite Exchange Gallery, 2008

IEG knows the value of art and believes that everyone should have access to it in their daily lives. Presenting works and services in exchange for non-monetary trades, artists determine what they feel the value of their work is, and what they want in exchange for it. This agreement ensures the cooperative collaboration that manifests between the artists, gallery representatives and the buyer. It is functioning outside of the art market constraints. No work in the IEG has a monetary value. The viewers are thereby invited to swap and potentially even haggle in exchange for what they want.

-Jennifer Delos Reyes and Lori Gordon, Founders

www.infiniteexchangegallery.com

Tropical Shelters, 2007

This piece is an effort to privilege an overlooked everyday experience by drawing attention to it and re-imagining it as a special site of social interaction and civic engagement. It is an absurdist gesture where the bus shelter's protection stands in as a symbol of warmth, civil accord, and utopian paradise. This visual intervention highlights the fragility of the ideal of civil respect and mutual care. It elevates and draws attention to our engagement with the entity that is our city. There is larger meaning in your being here and taking the bus.

City Blocks, 2006

This project calls on Regina residents to engage with one another and explore their visions of what their city could become. A large meeting table constructed of snow and ice bears a simplified map of Regina. Various city buildings and infrastructure are represented in moveable ice blocks, which participants are invited to place on the map, thus creating their ideal vision of their city.